Heavyweight Baltus O.V.S.

Formerly brewed at Heavyweight Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Ocean Township, New Jersey USA

Many thanks to friend willblake for sending me the Baltus.

Vintage 2003
Pours a murky crimson body and a momentary tan head. The aroma and flavor are full of sweet malts and an odd Belgian yeasty tartness. There is a bit of oxidation but the flavors still show through: Brown sugar, molasses, toffee and a fragment of smoke in the finish… then followed up by some fruity hints of fig, date, green apple, and some walnuts and sourdough bread. Nice chewy palate… I’d like to try this fresh and see the difference between this 2+-year-old bottle and that of youth.

Head is initially average sized, frothy, off-white, mostly lasting. Body is medium brown. Aroma is moderately malty (caramel, cookie), with notes of raisin and brown sugar. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, watery/velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Seems to be more of a English Strong Ale, but it’s nicely fruity and well balanced. Good stuff.

Thin head, dark brown body. Light cocoa, toffee aroma. Taste is spicy, with a slight acidity. Yeasty, slightly buttery. Smooth mouthfeel. Hides the alcohol extremely well. Nice stuff.

Poured a clear deep amber color. Sweet and malty aroma with light peaty notes. Flavor is malty, sweet, with some smokeiness. Finish is warming with a small taste of alcohol.

Out of a bottle. Aroma yeast,wheat and raisin. Pours clouded haze of brown and amber. Tasted a little less bitter than a strong ale. Palate was good and finish was clean and dry. Not bad.

Pretty good interpretation of the Belgian strong ale style. Doesn’t taste as strong as it really is.

Darkish copper hued, adequate sized off-white head that won’t lace nor lasts very long. Nutty, fruity (pear, orange, candied grapes, figs) nose focuses on a malty/yeasty combo. The use of roasted malts give it a big brown ale feel considering the overall sweetness, both in a fruity and cakey brown sugar/toffee fashion. Almost wheaty tartness kicks into the melting pot in mouth and this is where it fails: the tartness doesn’t go along with the roasted malts, creating more astringency than it should for a globally sweet beer. Too bad, I love Heavyweight and this could have been pretty good, but it feels a bit rough and not very elegant as is.

Murky, rusty copper in color with a few grey spatterings for the head. Prunes, apples, tart cherries, caramel, pear juice and brown sugar join forces to comprise a peculiar aroma. Flavor is sweet and slick, rolling in with bing cherry extract, brown sugar and caramel. Some dactylic alcohol. Reminiscent of a hollow, aged dubbel. Sweet malt conjecture and raw sugar confection add the unique edge, with a reverberating wheat bran funkiness. Mostly thin on the palate, washing away to leave an aftertaste of watery fruit punch, stretching the limits of how far a packet of powder should go. Thanks for the bottle, tpkenned!